Umpires - Umpire of the Year (Male) - Marcin Grochal
(POL), Umpire of the Year (Female) - Michelle Meister (GER)

No player, coach or umpire from India made any of the lists above.
The only representation from Asia was Ye Jiao from China, a nominee for
Goalkeeper of the Year (female).

Whilst the Coaches and Umpires of the Year were selected by FIH
panels, the Player of the Year, Rising Star of the Year and Goalkeeper
of the Year awards consisted of a peer vote by fellow players and
coaches (75% weightage) and a fan vote on the FIH website (25%
weightage).

he
4-test series was played between India A and France A women's teams from
February 8-13, 2019 across two venues in Uttar Pradesh - Gorakhpur and
Lucknow. The match venues were Veer Bahadur Singh Sports College ground
in Gorakhpur and Padma Shri Mohammad Shaheed Hockey Stadium in Lucknow.

India A won the series 3-1 against France A. India's match results are given below:

Venue

Date

Result

Goal Scorers - India

Lucknow

Feb 8

France 1 - India 0

Gorakhpur

Feb 10

India 3 - France 2

Mariana Kujur (19 min), PCLalremsiami (30
min)Mumtaz Khan (34 min)

Lucknow

Feb 12

India 2 - France 0

Mumtaz Khan (42 min)Sharmila Devi (60 min)

Lucknow

Feb 13

India 2 - France 0

Jyoti (26 min)Gagandeep Kaur (32 min), PC

The India A team for the 4-test series against France A was as
follows:

he
9th Hockey India Sr. Men's National Hockey Championship (A division)
was held in Gvalior from 31st January - 10th February, 2019. Twenty
teams from all over India participated in the nationals, and were
grouped into the following pools:

he
9th Hockey India Sr. Women's National Hockey Championship (A division)
was held in Hisar, Hariyana, from February 8-18, 2019. Twenty
teams from all over India participated in the nationals, and were
grouped into the following pools:

he
9th Hockey India Jr. Men's National Hockey Championship (A division)
was held in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, from February 17-28, 2019. Twenty
teams from all over India participated in the nationals, and were
grouped into the following pools:

he
9th Hockey India Jr. Women's National Hockey Championship (A division)
was held in Kollam, Kerala, from 31st January - 10th February, 2019. Twenty
teams from all over India participated in the nationals, and were
grouped into the following pools:

he
Photograph of the Month for March 2019 is Lalremsiami, who has been
selected as 2018 Rising Player of the Year by the Asian Hockey Federation.
The Player of the Year award for 2018 went to Harmanpreet Singh, while the
Perfomance of the Year award for 2018 went to the Indian men's hockey team
for being the only Asian team to reach the quarter-final stage of the
Odisha Men's Hockey World Cup in Bhubanesvar.

What lies forgotten amidst these awards is that India's hockey talent
has plateaued at the Asian level. Indian men's and women's hockey can
neither win tournaments nor awards at the global level.

Money Matters

he
International Hockey Federation (FIH) has received bids from Australia,
Germany, India, Malaysia, New Zealand and Spain to host the next edition
of the Men's World Cup or the Women's World Cup. The deadline to submit
bids was 31st January, 2019.

Bidding countries were given two choices for World Cup dates: either
July 1-17, 2022 or January 13-29, 2023.

For the July 2022 time window, the following bids were received:

Malaysia - Men's World Cup only

Spain - Men's World Cup only

Germany - Men's or Women's World Cup

For the January 2023 time window, the following bids were received:

Australia - Women's World Cup only

New Zealand - Women's World Cup only

India - Men's or Women's World Cup

India have hosted the men's Hockey World Cup thrice (1982, 2010,
2018), but have never hosted the Women's World Cup.

The FIH Executive Board will make the final decision on both hosts in
June 2019.

Media Matters

he
International Hockey Federation (FIH) has signed a 4-year media rights
agreement (2019-2022) with ESPN for a major portion of the Pan American
region. The countries covered by the agreement include:

The deal follows successful cooperation with ESPN in 2018 in which
the network broadcast both the Women's World Cup (London) and the the
Men's World Cup (Bhubanesvar).

The 4-year agreement includes all home and away matches of the men's and
women's Argentinean teams in the FIH Pro League, the 2022 Women's World
Cup, the 2022 Men's World Cup, and the Olympic and World Cup qualifiers.

Visitor of the Month

he
March 2019 Visitor of the Month is
Stan Salazar from Perth, Australia, who sent the following email to BharatiyaHockey.org:

I am interested in hearing from hockey pin/hockey badge
collectors in the hope that we can exchange our duplicates. I have
many duplicates for exchange, some of which are listed in the
photograph and are described below.

he
March 2019 edition of Fun with Numbers is on India's record in the Sultan
Azlan Shah Cup, the only annual international hockey tournament in all of
Asia. The 28th edition of the tournament will be held in Ipoh, Malaysia,
from March 23-30, 2019. It will be India's 22nd appearance in the tournament.

India has won the tournament 5 times in 21 appearances (1985,
1991, 1995, 2009, 2010), with the 2010 title being shared with South
Korea as the final was rained out